Apple may be forced to eliminate Touch ID from the iPhone 8 altogether due to issues embedding sensors into the display

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Wall Street analysts are claiming that Apple may be forced to eliminate Touch ID from the iPhone 8 altogether due to issues embedding sensors into the devices display. While the thought of Apple removing Touch ID raises some eyebrows, this in fact isn’t the first time we’ve heard reports about the feature getting the boot.

Last week we reported that according to a research note from Cowen and Company analyst Timothy Arcuri obtained by MacRumors, integrating Touch ID underneath the display of the iPhone 8 is causing Apple to delay mass-production of the handset, with the company setting themselves the deadline of May to finalise the design of the Touch ID system which could potentially, yet unlikely, be removed all together from the flagship 5.8-inch device in favour of facial/iris recognition systems.

“At this point, we do not believe Apple’s optical fingerprint module provider has firm orders for production, which suggests Apple does not have functionality of the optical fingerprint sensor ready,” said Andy Hargreaves.

“If it is not able to fix the problems in that time frame, Apple may be forced to eliminate fingerprint sensing from the OLED iPhone altogether,” the analyst warned.

Of course, rather than removing the feature all together it’s possible Apple could put the Touch ID sensor on the back of the iPhone but in a different place than on the Samsung Galaxy S8 which isn’t something Cowen and Company analyst Timothy Arcuri predicts to be a welcomed change from iPhone users.

iPhone 8: What we know…

Apple’s upcoming iPhone 8 is building itself up to be one of the most anticipated iPhone releases of all time. The device is said to feature a glass body and edge-to-edge OLED display that includes an integrated Touch ID fingerprint sensor and front-facing camera. While the iPhone 8 will be the star of Apple’s 2017 iPhone line-up, the company is also said to be planning an iPhone 7s update which will upgrade the current flagship iPhone handsets Apple offer.

Tom Sykes

Tom has been an Editor at The Apple Post for five years, covering all types of Apple news, leaks and reports. Over the years Tom has been cited by a variety of major publications, including Mashable, MacWorld, Business Insider, and Yahoo Tech News.